Israeli forces kill young Palestinian man in West Bank amid widespread raids and detentions

Israeli forces shot dead a young Palestinian man in the early hours of Thursday morning in the village of Luban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, amid a widespread campaign of raids which saw the detention of at least 50 people.

26-year-old Khattab Mohammad Daraghmeh was killed after Israeli forces set up an ambush near the main road adjacent to the village, positioning soldiers among the trees and opening fire on him and another young man passing through the area, The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Rajaa Owais, the secretary of the Palestinian Fatah movement in Luban Al-Sharqiya, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the other man was wounded but managed to escape.

Israeli forces then took away Daraghmeh before informing the local village council of his death. Israel often confiscates the bodies of Palestinians it has killed.

The Israeli army claimed that Daraghmeh and his companion were “militants” and said that the incident took place while its soldiers were targeted by stone throwing.

Israeli forces also stormed Nablus itself in the early morning, with the aim of arresting a man named Ahmed Rami Hseiba.

When they failed to locate him, they destroyed three homes belonging to his extended family, then detonated a small explosive inside his father’s house, causing extensive damage to its contents.

They then detained his brother and father before withdrawing after three hours, according to Nidal Hseiba, another one of his brothers who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israeli forces also detained another young man, Miqdad Dawabsheh, at his home in the village of Duma south of Nablus. His father has been detained by Israel for more than four months.

In total at least 50 Palestinians were arrested across the West Bank on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. Most of those detained were prisoners previously held by Israel, including one former female detainee.

Israel released just under 2,000 Palestinian prisoners as part of the October ceasefire deal with Hamas, but it still continues to hold around 9,300 more, many of them without charge or trial under “administrative detention”. Palestinian prisoners have been starved, tortured, and raped in Israeli custody.

After releasing prisoners in exchange agreements Israel frequently re-detains them. Hamas released all the living Israeli captives it once held as part of the ceasefire deal and the bodies of all but one of the deceased ones.

The Israeli raids were accompanied by assaults against detainees and their families as well as vandalism and destruction of homes, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.